No council money for 100th Neerim Show

An application seeking Baw Baw Shire funding support for Neerim District Agriculture and Horticultural Society’s 100th show next year has been denied by council.

The society sought sponsorship through council’s community funding assistance program. The application did not state how much money the society sought.

But, Cr Michael Leaney said the application was of “poor quality” and did not meet the criteria.

A report to council said the NDAHS was ineligible for council’s community development grant program as the show had been funded three times.

In May this year, council launched a community funding assistance program which included a category for event sponsorship.

Council was told the Neerim show is celebrating its 100 year anniversary in January 2017.

The NDAHS was requested to provide supporting evidence for its sponsorship application. This included completing an acquittal for their 2014 community development grant.

Officers said the application and further information provided did not address a number of the criteria listed for level two - local event funding in the community funding assistance program.

“The application and further information provided did not indicate why council funds are required to run the event and how the sponsorship funding would be used,” the report said.

Cr Leaney said the application was not an onerous process.

“Unfortunately, in this instance the application was poor and didn’t acknowledge the criteria.

“The poor quality of the application undermines our support for it,” he said.

Cr Danny Goss said it was unfortunate the society had not provided enough information.

“If they can’t tell us what they are going to spend the money on, I’m not happy to give them the money,” he said.